Mexico’s 9-Mo Foreign Tourism Income Up 15.4% To $9.15 Billion
Mexico’s Tourism Ministry said Thursday that international visitors to Mexico during the first nine months of the year spent $9.15 billion, or 15.4% more than in the same period of 2004.
In a statement, the ministry said that 16.6 million foreign tourists came to Mexico during the period, 10.4% more than in the year-ago period.
Of those visitors, 8.7 million arrived by plane while the rest came by car or boat. Mexico received a record 4.46 million cruise passengers in the January-September period, 8.6% more than in the same nine months of 2004.
Mexico is one of the top 10 vacation destinations, and a crucial port of call for Miami-based cruise giants Carnival Corp. (CCL) and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL). Much of that visitor traffic, though, comes to Mexico’s Caribbean coast, which was severely damaged by Hurricane Wilma in October.
Prior to Wilma, the ministry expected to rake in $12 billion from international tourists this year, however, Tourism Minister Rodolfo Elizondo said recently that the goal might no longer be attainable.
Close to 21 million foreign tourists came to Mexico last year - more than ever before - and spent a record $10.84 billion while on Mexican soil. Those outlays accounted for about 1.6% of the country’s gross domestic product.
Based on international arrivals at the Cancun and Cozumel airports, which are operated by Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste SA (ASR), the Caribbean region - known as the Mayan Riviera - accounted for over 34% of Mexico’s international visitors in 2004.
More: thebusinessonline.com
Mexico tourism rises despite hurricanes
Nearly 22 million foreign tourists visited Mexico last year, 6.5 percent more than in 2004, according to Tourism Department data.
The visitors spent a total of $11.8 billion in Mexico, the department said in a news release Saturday.
The rise in tourists came despite three ferocious hurricanes that hit last year.
Hurricanes Emily, Stan and Wilma struck the country between July and October, killing 75 people and causing $2.15 billion worth of damage.
Wilma smashed directly into Cancun, the nation's glitzy Caribbean resort, on Oct. 22, damaging hotels and clearing sand from some beaches.
More: mercurynews.com
Turmoil batters Mexico tourism
A human head washes up on an Acapulco beach. Protestors hassle visitors at makeshift checkpoints in the colonial city of Oaxaca. And in Mexico City, leftist demonstrators turn the tourist draws of Reforma Ave. and the Zocalo plaza into sprawling, ragtag protest camps.
Growing political unrest and drug violence are making foreigners think twice about visiting Mexico, where the $11.8 billion (U.S.) tourism industry is the countrys third-largest legal source of income, after oil and remittances from migrants in the United States.
Mexico has been struggling since last fall, when Hurricane Wilma hit the countrys biggest tourism
Mexico's foreign direct investment falls
Foreign direct investment in Mexico was US$7.46 billion (euro6.13 billion) in the first half of this year, the Economy Department said Friday.
The amount was below the US$10.29 billion (euro12.73 billion) reported in the like 2004 period, when the equity buyouts of local bank BBVA-Bancomer and cement company Holcim Apasco by their parent companies boosted investment.
By excluding those inflows from the comparison, FDI was 8.3 percent higher than in the first six months of 2004, the Economy Ministry said in a statement.
Of the US$7.46 billion in first-half FDI, US$2.12 billion (euro1.74 billion) was in new investment, $2.4
Mexico's Caribbean tourism resurfacing
Even as Mexican tourism officials sound the all-clear for parts of its Caribbean playground ravaged by Hurricane Wilma last month, potential visitors may find the destination cumbersome and costly to access thanks to cutbacks in air service among U.S. carriers.
American Airlines, a major player in the market, won't resume normal schedules until February, though it has added flights in December to meet holiday demand. United, Delta and Continental also have reduced service until at least mid-December. US Airways resumes its full schedule Dec. 1.
In the meantime, officials hoping to salvage the lucrative winter season are trying to
Mexico resorts getting back in the swim
Tourism officials in the hurricane-battered Mexican state of Quintana Roo hope to have 80 percent of the accommodations and amenities in the affected Caribbean coast resorts fully operational by February.
The Yucatan Peninsula state, home to tourism magnets Cancun, Cozumel and the Riviera Maya, accounts for about 36 percent of Mexico's nearly $11 billion tourism industry, according to Quintana Roo tourism secretary Gabriela Rodriguez.
Hurricane Wilma hit Cancun the hardest in late October, closing most of its hotel rooms. Between 8,000 and 10,000 of the city's approximately 25,000 hotel rooms are now open, and officials expect
Mexico gearing up for Chinese tourism
Se habla Chinese? Apparently not enough Mexicans do, so the country's Tourism and Economy Departments are joining with the elite College of Mexico to prepare for a growing flow of tourists from the world's most populous nation.
The program outlined in a news release on Friday includes instruction in Chinese for tourism workers and the addition of Chinese-speakers at a telephone assistance number for visitors.
It also seeks to train tourism workers in Chinese culture so that they can meet the expectations of visitors in terms of food, recreation and courtesy.
More: signonsandiego.com
Mexico Buys $2.88 Billion of Central Bank Reserves (Update3)
Mexico's government bought $2.88 billion of central bank international reserves that it will use to help meet payments on all foreign debt coming due in 2006 and 2007.
The funds, which the government acquired by selling pesos to the Banco de Mexico, combined with $1.89 billion the government has available from earlier foreign bond sales will cover the $4.77 billion of foreign debt maturing in the next two years, the Finance Ministry said in a statement. Finance Minister Francisco Gil Diaz said that the dollar purchase will allow Mexico's government to stay
Mexico posts 3.3 bln pesos public surplus in Oct
Mexico posted a public-sector surplus of 3.3 billion pesos ($310 million) in October thanks to higher tax and oil income, the government said on Wednesday.
The October surplus brought the accumulated January-October surplus to 104.9 billion pesos, it said.
Mexico, among the world's top 10 crude oil exporters, has seen its public finances boosted this year by the gains in oil prices.
Budget income for the month rose 10.9 percent year-on-year in real terms.
The government has a fiscal deficit target of 0.2 percent of gross domestic product for 2005.
President Vicente Fox presented a 2006 budget
Mexico to Swap Bonds Today to Lower Foreign Debt
Mexico will swap foreign-currency bonds for domestic securities today, the first part of a planned $3.3 billion exchange aimed at making the countrys finances less vulnerable to declines in the peso.
In todays transaction, investors can turn in as much as $500 million of dollar bonds in exchange for peso debt. Investors in November bought warrants from the government that gave them the option to turn in their dollar bonds for peso bonds. In March, the government sold similar warrants to holders of some bonds denominated in European currencies.
The swaps
World Cup boosts Mexicos Modelo net profit
No. 1 Mexican brewer Modelo, the maker of top U.S. import beer Corona, posted a 4.8 percent rise in second quarter net profit on solid growth in foreign and domestic sales, aided by the World Cup.
Modelo (GMODELOC.MX: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Friday its April-June net was 2.603 billion pesos ($230 million), in line with expectations, as sales rose 9.7 percent to 15.101 billion pesos. ($1 = 11.3070 pesos at end June)
Source : today.reuters.com
